Not a good night for wine, 1 outta 3:
1. Verget du Sud Roussanne Vin de Pays du Vaucluse (13%) 2007: Med.gold color; light stoney/minerally very light Roussanne/floral/honeysuckle slight metallic/grapefruity bit Chablis/chalky nose; very tart thin/eviscerated/lean/vapid light earthy/minerally almost no fruit flavor; short metallic/stoney no fruit bit chalky finish; a vapid/eviscerated/acidic/thin wine w/ no Roussanne character; must have been cropped at 8 tons/acre; a SouthernRhone blanc made by a Chablis producer; way overpriced at $18.00
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2. Cllrs UNIO Clos del Pinell DOC: TerraAlta Crianca (40% grenache/20% Mazuela/10% Syrah/30% Morenillo; 13%) NV: Med.dark color; rather grapey/licorice/pungent quite vanilla/Am.oak somewhat bretty/barnyardy rather strange/interesting nose; soft quite bretty/barnyardy/horsecollar very Am.oak/vanilla rather thin/lean slight grapey/Grenache/strawberry flavor; short thin/lean rather barnyardy/bretty/horsecollar light grapey tannic/hard/thin/bitey finish; nice classy packaging but an ugly/ornery thin little Spanish wine; overpriced even at $9.50
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3. SolRouge Syrah LakeCnty (14.5%; www.SolRouge.com) 2007: Very dark color; strong blackberry/Syrah some earthy/mushroomy light smokey/oak bit rustic/earthy/pungent/gamey/feral rather interesting nose; tart some lean/metallic/earthy/gamey rather blackberry/Syrah slight peppery light toasty/oak rather tannic/hard flavor; tart long rather rough/rustic/tannic strong blackberry/Syrah bit peppery/earthy/mushroomy light toasty/oak slight licorice/pungent finish; needs 2-5 yrs; some like a SantaBarbaraSyrah, some like an AltoAdige red. $32.00
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Morenillo: Not familiar w/ this variety. No compelling reason to make its aquaintance in the future based on this wine. An indigenous variety to TerraAlta. The wines are primarily made for local consumption...they shoulda kept this one local...clearly not ready for prime-time.
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2. SolRouge: This is BryanKane's wine (VIE is his other label) being made from his LakeCnty grapes. The vnyd is a new one with very close spacing, primarily devoted to Rhone varieties. I think he'll be making some pretty interesting wines from this vnyd.
This Syrah was a rather interesting rendition of Calif Syrah. It had plenty of blackberry/Syrah fruit that spoke of Calif Syrah. But it also had an earthy/mushroomy/sauvage character that really added interest to the wine, a character I can't recall in any other Calif Syrahs. Worth seeking out to try.
Tom